Friday, February 8, 2019

Today's Books and the Classics


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  Custom built Dump Truck!

Today:
Sherry has been a reader, off and on, most of her life. I was never a reader except books and publications having to do with my occupation at the time.  I read a few westerns for time passers while aboard ship. I would have probably even read less if there had been an internet.

I began reading in earnest in my mid 50s. I was alone in the motor home thousands of miles away from home. I was on a ‘family mission’, on impulse I bought a very thick hard cover book called “Executive Orders” by Tom Clancy. I figured it would take me a couple months to read it. I shocked myself by enjoying it so much I read it in less than a week, I WAS HOOKED! Since that time I have read over a thousand books and published eleven.

The Classics, do you like them?  I read Huck and Tom (Twain) and  ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Dickens, but that is all I remembered. In the past few years some classics have been suggested. ‘Bleak house’ by Dickens and ‘The Mayor of Castorbridge’ by Thomas hardy.  I just found ‘Captains Courageous’ by Kipling and had a tough time reading it due to the early language used.

I probably will not search out any more classics unless one is really recommended as a ‘cannot put it down’ book. Of the few I have read, the easiest to read was ‘The Mayor of Castorbridge’. BUT I was let down at the end because I did not like the ending. I like a pleasant or happy ending. I already know of too many bad endings in real life. LOL

I was surprised by Dicken’s ‘Bleak House.’ It was not a page turn-er (and a cast of thousands!). I quit about ½ way through! Many people must like it, it was highly recommended.

Do any of the Classics ‘Yank your chain?’

Nite Shipslog
PS:  I am right at the end of Captains Courageous, I have enjoyed it and it seems to be headed for a good ending.
I admire and respect the writer's of old, just to get that many words in print was an accomplishment. 
(I finished the book  (CC)before this post and it does have a good ending)

9 comments:

Lisa said...

No classics here. I had my chance in school to read most of them and refused. I do not read many books and can count on one hand the amount of books I finished reading and yours are part of that. I wish I liked reading but I have to be left alone in a quiet place to read. I have trouble understanding what I read so it takes a lot form me to focus and concentrate. I have read a couple Nicklaus Sparks books as well as Karen Kingsbury books. I have a new book loaded to read this Summer. Im trying...

Working
Lisa

bobbie said...

Omnivorous reader here ~ Arthur Conan Doyle is a favorite. Dickens I never did like ~ why use 2 words when 32 will do?!?!

Chatty Crone said...

I read classics when I went to school - when my kids went to school I read theirs and then i did with Andy's - think I am done. I did like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1984, and Little Women - not sure if they are classics.

bobbie said...

PS ~ Jack, thank you so much for popping by my blog and your comment!

Chatty Crone ~ "Little Women" is DEFINITELY a classic!!! I can't count the number of times I've read it!

betty said...

Not much of a classic reader. I struggled through what I had to read when I was in school and helped the kids struggle through what they had to read when they were in school, but it was not my thing. However, I did enjoy immensely "Grapes of Wrath" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." Not sure they classify as truly classics.

betty

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Jack, you are a classic and I have read some of your books! I've also read many others that were called classics too. I love reading and my favorite is fiction. I love fairy tales too, they always have a good ending.

Glenda said...

Have to agree with 'MA' you are a classic!!! One of my all time favorites is "Gone With the Wind" and just about every single book mentioned above, especially "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"....I do love to lose myself in a good book...current or classic!

Mevely317 said...

I'd like to know WHO gets to decide what books are classic, you know? Already I've forgotten most of those we were mandated to read while in school. Aside from Little Women and Gone With The Wind, the only one that sounds vaguely intriguing is To Kill a Mockingbird.
Only a few years ago I gave up forcing myself to finish something that dragged, or became a mental chore. Life's too short to invest reading uninteresting fodder.

TARYTERRE said...

a good book is hard to find for sure.